Welcome to Cramer’s Chronicles where, every Friday, we’ll break down the latest and greatest weekly hits about Cramer’s crooked, self-serving, extreme, and gaffe-prone behavior that puts himself and his partisan politics ahead of North Dakotans.

ND FARMERS CALL OUT CRAMER FOR SUPPORTING TRADE WAR. Yesterday, farmers from across North Dakota and the Dem-NPL came together to call on Congressman Cramer to stop blindly following the administration down the trade war route and for failing to stand up for them and the state’s best interests.

• Wyndmere farmer, state Senator, and Ag Commissioner candidate, Jim Dotzenrod: “It’s a little bothersome to me that the people that have crafted this policy, that have decided to go this route, have no skin in the game. They’re playing poker with somebody else’s money.” 
• Colfax farmer, Vanessa Kummer: “We all know that trade wars don’t work. And so for Representative Cramer to stand beside Trump and promote harm to North Dakota farmers is just wrong in my opinion.”
  

HEADLINE: KVRR: Farmers Speak Out Against Rep. Kevin Cramer and His Comments on Trade War

Watch more here.

HANG TOUGH? Meanwhile, Cramer is once again dismissing North Dakotans’ concerns (remember when he accused their fears of the trade war as “hysteria”?). See today’s front page of the Fargo Forum for how Cramer and his cronies are once again belittling the economic impacts his decision to stand with the administration 100 percent of the time are having:

DON’T MISS: “FOR CRAMER, DIFFERING WITH TRUMP MAKES YOU AN ‘ENEMY OF OUR COUNTRY’.” Cramer’s bizarre thinking behind calling Senator Heitkamp an “enemy of our country” for working to help those affected by the trade war is criticized in Mike McFeely’s latest column: “Cramer’s stance is obvious: He’s loyal to Trump above North Dakota. […] With Trump, it’s a different story. Cramer doesn’t see his job as looking out for North Dakotans, but rather standing with the president 100 percent of the time. And if you dare question Trump, you’re ‘an enemy of our own country.’ That’s startling hyperbole, even for an unapologetic Trump fanboy.”

CRAMER FAILS TO ‘SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT’ ON HEALTH CARE. “Cramer campaign on the defensive, as it has been multiple times” and, this week, it was about his disastrous health care record. Cramer and the NDGOP held a ‘set the record straight’ (aka: damage-control) press conference in an attempt to rewrite their history of supporting policies that could spike costs and strip coverage for North Dakotans. Not surprisingly, there were “quite a few misleading claims.”

• Congressman Kevin Cramer has voted to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act over sixty times since taking office. In 2015, he bragged about voting to repeal the law in its entirety. Repealing the law in its entirety would eliminate the protections of people with pre-existing conditions. To now try and claim otherwise at a press conference is election year spin at its worse.
   
• Cramer has also claimed Graham-Cassidy, a replacement plan, would protect people with pre-existing conditions. That’s not accurate. While it technically didn’t gut the entire thing, consumers could be charged more for care or completely priced out of the insurance market because of pre-existing conditions. Directors of Medicaid across the nation also raised flags about the proposal’s shortfalls.
  
• To top it off, Cramer accuses Democrats of using health care as, “a theme to try and ride into this election cycle.” Apparently, he delivered that line without a hint of irony nor a level of self-awareness. Recall, he voted over 60 times to repeal the law. When asked about it, he claimed those were “symbolic” meaning for political motives. Now, after years of running on health care, they control the federal government and they don’t want you to talk about health care because it isn’t politically advantageous for them.

BOTTOM LINE: North Dakotans can’t trust Kevin Cramer with their health care.

HEADLINE: CRAMER’S OFFICE THREATENS CONSTITUENTS. Chris Hagen of the High Plains Reader details how Mary Rennich and several other North Dakotans concerned about their health care were “threatened… with physical removal from the building if they dared say a word” at Cramer’s health care event. See more:

• If Mary Rennich and her family lost insurance, she would be facing more than $7,500 a month in medical bills.
• “Being a citizen of North Dakota, I think we should have a voice,” Rennich said. “I don’t think they should be afraid to hear questions and have some answers ready. I think that’s their responsibility… I would like to ask some questions. And I know there are a lot of other families that would like to ask, too, because we’re really scared. We’re very frightened.”

Seems like the damage-control desperately needed from Cramer’s health care agenda is going about as well as expected.

TWEET OF THE WEEK.

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(BISMARCK, ND) – Congressman Cramer and his crew made a lot of claims at their damage-control press conference yesterday. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, they further proved that Cramer’s health care agenda is simply not for North Dakota. Not only does Cramer want to undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions but, by reiterating his support for the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, Cramer is endorsing steep cuts to Medicaid – putting our state’s nursing homes at risk.

It’s all part of Cramer’s disastrous health care agenda that he’s now trying to paper over ahead of Election Day. Check out some of the other false claims Cramer and his cronies made:

CLAIM: Cramer claimed he’s always supported protecting folks with pre-existing conditions and that Graham-Cassidy covered pre-existing conditions.

FACT: PolitiFact: “Under no circumstances do the protections in [Graham-Cassidy] equal the ones Americans have today under the Affordable Care Act. They are less.”

CLAIM: Republicans would protect pre-existing conditions if the ACA was ruled unconstitutional.

FACT: Under both the AHCA and Graham-Cassidy, folks with pre-existing conditions could pay higher premiums than folks without pre-existing conditions.

FACT: Cramer has always wanted to get rid of these protections and sabotage the health care law. As far back as 2013, Cramer was advocating for “dismantl[ing]” the law.

BOTTOM LINE: North Dakotans can’t trust Kevin Cramer with their health care.

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(BISMARCK, ND) – Cramer may be trying to rewrite his history before Election Day, but don’t forget: Cramer has blindly supported this trade war from the beginning, choosing to put his political capital first, even if he harms North Dakotans in the process.

• Cramer called farmers’ concerns over the trade war “hysteria” and told them they “don’t have a very high pain threshold.”
• Cramer compared someone wanting him to stand up against tariffs to “shoot[ing himself] in the head.”
• Cramer attacked Senator Heitkamp as “an enemy of our own country” for working to stop the trade war and mitigate harm to North Dakota farmers.
• When radio host Eugene Graner analogized the trade war saying, “you know, you got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, nobody said it’d be easy” – Cramer agreed.

“Now, Cramer is in damage control and is attempting to convince North Dakotans that he’s on their side by hosting a trade town hall with administration officials – but North Dakotans will see this for what it truly is: another political stunt ahead of Election Day,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL.

When Congressman Cramer created his self-imposed deadline to stand with North Dakotans against the devastating effects of the trade war, it was hard to take him seriously. After all, he’s been recklessly supporting the since the beginning. That’s why – with only eight days remaining until his pledge to finally put his constituents first – North Dakotans aren’t holding their breath for his help.

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(BISMARCK, ND) – Ahead of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ross’s visit to North Dakota tomorrow, a brief reminder that Ross isn’t concerned about the financial hit North Dakota farmers, producers, and manufacturers are taking due to the trade war. In fact, he’s belittled and downplayed the harm it’s causing North Dakotans – just like Kevin Cramer.

Ross: “So I don’t think there’s really a lot for anybody to complain about.”
Cramer: Folks don’t have “a very high pain threshold.”

Ross: “There is obviously going to be some pulling and tugging as we try to deal with very serious problems […] There will be some hiccups along the way.”
Cramer: Agreed with radio host Eugene Graner’s analogy of the trade war that “you know, you got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, nobody said it’d be easy.”

Ross: “Anyone who thinks the economy is being wrecked doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
Cramer: Dismissed farmers’ concerns over the trade war as “hysteria.”

Ross: “You can’t make progress without taking a little bit of risk.”
Cramer: “Some people are saying we need to get out of this trade war. There’s only one thing to do in a trade war and that is win it.”

No wonder he’s flying in to help Cramer ‘save face’ on the trade war – they’ve both been cheerleading it all along.

But why? For Cramer, it’s blind loyalty to the administration, even when it goes against North Dakota’s best interests, in the hopes of gaining a political promotion. For Ross, it’s personal financial gain. Birds of a feather…

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(BISMARCK, ND) – Mike McFeely lays Kevin Cramer’s “political opportunism” to bare and warns that voters don’t want someone who is simply looking to “go from one political job to the next” – something that “should make Cramer nervous.”

• There might be a lesson for Cramer in Pawlenty’s stunning and decisive defeat to grinder Jeff Johnson in last week’s Minnesota primary election: Opportunism isn’t a good political strategy.
• Cramer, by his admission, was a reluctant entrant into the race against incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, sweet-talked into running by President Donald Trump and billionaire oilman Harold Hamm when Republicans could find no other credible candidates.
• Cramer has yet to cut his own trail, instead preferring to attack Heitkamp and loudly proclaim he’s a willing vessel of Trump. Cramer seems convinced he’ll win because he’s a Trump-worshipping Republican in a state that strongly favors the president. There’s been no talk of whatever Cramer believes he’s accomplished legislatively in the House and no roadmap to what he envisions if elected to the Senate, other than to support Trump’s agenda.
• It looks for all the world like Cramer is running because the pieces were in place to get a better job, even if he wasn’t convinced he wanted it in the first place. Opportunism.
• Cramer has always been the guy to go from one political job to the next, either appointed or elected, so seeking a promotion isn’t unusual for him. The difference this time is that he finds himself in a competitive race and his inability to articulate exactly why he wants the job — other than to back Trump 100 percent — is telling.
• Minnesotans saw Pawlenty’s limp run at governor as opportunism and it was fatal. If North Dakotans see Cramer’s Senate run the same way, it might be just as costly.

Read the full article here.

More on Cramer’s political opportunism:

Politico: “Paying family with campaign funds could dog Cramer in Senate bid.”

KFYR: HEADLINE: Rep. Kevin Cramer’s campaign fund use comes into question

High Plains Reader: “Hamm and his net worth of $19.5 billion became the decision maker for Cramer accepting Hamm as his national finance chairman.

WDAY: “[Cramer] didn’t want to risk losing his seat in the House… It was a call from oil tycoon Harold Hamm, whose net worth is $18 billion, that finally tipped the scales” to him running for U.S. Senate. 

Associated Press: As Public Service Commissioner, Cramer was accused of “taking improper campaign contributions from coal mining officials.”

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(BISMARCK, ND) – The NDGOP is desperately trying to cover up Kevin Cramer’s record of jeopardizing coverage for folks with pre-existing conditions. Their latest attempt? Misleading North Dakotans about Cramer’s support for the MacArthur amendment, to try and prove that he never voted to completely cut protections for pre-existing conditions. But, as this fact check from Axios points out, the NDGOP is once again on the defense and is misleading North Dakotans about Cramer’s record.

Axios:

• Naturally, Cramer doesn’t like [Heitkamp’s latest] ad. The North Dakota GOP accused Heitkamp of telling “repeated lies” about his stance on pre-existing conditions.
• The party pointed out that the House repeal-and-replace bill, which Cramer voted for, included what was referred to as the “MacArthur amendment,” which preserved the ACA’s prohibition on insurers denying coverage based on someone’s health status.
• Fact check: Yes, the MacArthur amendment technically protected sick people’s ability to get coverage. But it allowed for states, in limited circumstances, to waive the ACA provisions that prevent insurers from charging people a higher premium because of their health status and require plans to cover a set of minimum benefits.
• That means that while people with pre-existing conditions couldn’t be denied coverage outright, they could be offered coverage that was too expensive to be attainable or that excluded health benefits that they needed – making the remaining coverage guarantee relatively worthless.

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